DENNY LINDERBAUM:
* Denny played 24 years (1968-1991) and had 609 wins vs. 265 losses, with a career ERA of 1.52 per game.
* His career included 4 Iowa ASA State Titles:
* In the 1976 state tourney, Denny had 2 wins over the heavily favored Des Moines Bombers, and in the championship game hit his only career home run in a 3-1 victory.
* In the 1982 state tourney, he gave up only 5 hits and pitched shut-out ball as he beat both pre-tourney favorite Buttertop, and the Des Moines Hawks, and picked up the save in the championship game against Penn Corps. He was named to the All-Tournament Team that year.
* Then, in 1988 at the age of 39, he was named Most Valuable Pitcher at the Iowa State Tourney, going undefeated and winning 5 games, including a 3-2 victory over defending champion Teleconnect, (also the defending ISC World Champs) and an 8-inning 2-0 win against Cedar Rapids Flecks.
* In his final year, 1991, his team, Bosch-Rausch Financial, won both the ASA and ISC State Titles and went on to finish in the top 10 in both the ASA Nationals and the ISC World.
* In all, he played 1n 17 Iowa State Tournaments, with 13 of those teams finishing in the top 6 or better. He was at 11 ASA Regional Tournaments, had one Regional Championship in 1981; 2nd place finishes in 1979 and 1987; and 3rd place finishes in 1976 and 1990.
* Denny appeared in four ASA National Tournaments with his team finishing in the top 10 in both 1981 and 1991. Also, in his last year, 1991, he played for the first time in the ASA Masters National Tourney, and won 4 games there, leading his Cedar Rapids team to a 9th place finish.
* And, along with Al Rausch & Gregg Bosch, he has promoted fast-pitch softball over the years, appearing at numerous pitching clinics across Iowa and working with youngsters to keep the game alive.
* Finally, Denny was well-known for his fierce competitive spirit and work ethic throughout his career. As Cliff Rice, himself a Hall of Famer, said, while Denny may not have had the physical talent of some other top pitchers, he got the most out of his abilities because of that competitiveness and work ethic.
Denny's pitching career spanned 24 years (1968-1991) and during that time he played for a number of teams, the majority of which were in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas. His career record was 609-265 with a 1.22 ERA. He pitched for four Iowa ASA Open Champions in 1976, 1982, 1988 and 1991, and for one ISC Iowa State Champion also in 1991.
His career began in the Cresco area in 1968, and he played for various Iowa teams until 1973 when he broke into major competition with Sunshine Bar' Grill of Winona, MN. one of the highlights of that year was being named the Most Valuable Pitcher at the prestigious Eau Claire Tournament in which Denny pitched a perfect game and had four victories. The Sunshine team went on to finish 3rd in the Minnesota ASA Open Tourney. It was in that tournament that Denny faced his old friend Al Rausch for the first of many times in their careers, and he came out on top 2-1.
In early 1974, Denny began building his reputation as a major Iowa pitcher when his Des Moines Merchants team played the defending State Champs, the Des Moines Bombers, to a 0-0 tie over 9 innings in the Ames Palmas Tournament, only to lose it in the 10th inning. That Des Moines Merchants team later won the Des Moines city Championship, and Denny made his first appearance in the Iowa ASA Open State Tournament that year. This was the first of 17 ASA Open state tourneys for him, and in only four of those tournaments did his team ever finish lower than 6th.
Denny moved to Cedar Rapids in 1975 to play with Welty Way and Gregg Bosch and Al Rausch. How time moves on! The Aurora, Illinois paper that year called the Welty Way pitching staff, "the best young pitching staff in the nation." And, Denny still says that team, with Mike Palleson, Steve Andrew, Ed White, Cliff Rice, Max Elliot, Dick Zuccatto, and John Muench to name just a few, the greatest team he's ever played with. Welty won 9 of the 11 tournaments that year, and one week-end, each of the three young pitchers beat the Aurora, Illinois team that had finished 2nd in the 1974 ASA Nationals.
In the Cedar Rapids' Major Open League, considered to be the best league in Iowa at that time, Denny had quite a rookie season. He did not allow a run in the first 46 2/3 innings that he threw, and had three no-hitters that year. Overall, he had an 8-1 record in his first season in the Major Open, and his 8 victories were the most of any pitcher in the Open as Welty won the league title.
Welty Way was one of the favorites as it entered the 1975 ASA State Tournament, but unfortunately, injuries decimated the pitching staff forthe tourney. Although both Bosch and Rausch tried to throw, Denny was the only completely healthy pitcher available. He won three games and pitched in another, but Welty Way finished a disappointing fifth place in 1975. Denny's final record that year was 20-4 with a 1.20 ERA.
Hoping to pitch more innings in1976, he moved to Cedar Rapids' Collins Radio, and posted a 34-9 record with a 0.74 ERA that season. One highlight of that season was being named Most Valuable Player at the Clear Lake Buttertop Tournament where he defeated the 1975 ISC World Champs Arctic Cats 1-0 in the first game, and went on to beat Madison Farm, Gene's Tap of Sioux City, and Buttertop.
Later that year at the Iowa ASA Open State Tournament in Des Moines, he knocked the heavily favored Des Moines Bombers into the loser's bracket, pitching a 4-hitter and fanning 12. Then, in the championship game, he beat the Bombers 3- 1, allowing only 3 hits.. To top off that tourney, Denny hit his first--and only--home run of his career in that championship game.
From 1977 until 1981, he played with Collins and then Reames in Des Moines. Those teams finished either 5th or 6th in the Iowa Open Tournament each of those five years. 1979 proved to be one of his best years with Reames when he compiled a 27-9 record with a 1.13 ERA. That year in the powerful St. Joseph ,MO tournament, Denny had victories over the Bloomington Hearts 5-0, St. Louis 2-1, and St. Jo's own Walnut Woods 2-1 as Reames finished 2nd. He went on to have 2 victories in the ASA State Tournament only to be beaten by Modern Piping and finishing in 5th place.
In both 1980 and 1981, he continued pitching in the Des Moines area with Reames and the Coors Bombers, with those teams finishing 5th and 6th in the State tournaments. But, then in 1982, Denny and the Coors Bombers had another blockbuster year. He had a 29-15 record, with a 1.11 ERA as Coors swept the Des Moines City Tournament, the Sub-State and went on to win the Iowa ASA Open State Title.
In that tourney, Denny beat the heavily favored Clear Lake Buttertop team, pitching a 3-hit shutout. He also shut-out Des Moines Spaghetti Market 5-0 in the winner's bracket final, and saved the championship game against Penn corp by getting the final two outs of the championship game with the tying runs on base. So he was 2-0 with a save, 0 runs given up, and only 5 hits allowed at that 1982 state tourney. was named to the All Tournament Team for his performance. He was named to the All Tournament Team for his performance.
Denny continued playing with Des Moines teams in 1983-84-86- 87, winning three Des Moines City Titles and three Sub-State titles during those years. In 1988 he again pitched for an ASA Open State Champion, LaPizza/Henry J's, which later bceame the Des Moines Metros. In 1988 at the age of 39, Denny went 34-11 with a 1,68 ERA, and was undefeated (5-0) in the Iowa state Open Tournament, The hiqhlights included a 3-2 win over the defending Iowa champion and 1987 ISC World Champion, Teleconnect, and an 8-inning 2-0 win over Flecks of Cedar Rapids. For these accomplishments, Denny was named the Most Valuable Pitcher of that tournament.
One of the most interesting aspects about Linderbaum's performance wasn"t that he was 39 years old, but rather that only a few weeks earlier, he had suffered a back injury while playing at Birdland in the City Tournament. He had to be carried from the field on a stretcher and taken to a hospital for treatment. Later in that same City Tournament, the only other pitcher that LaPizza/Henry J's had, Tom Bakey, suffered a severe injury to his arm. So, going into the Sub-State Tournament, they had only Denny to pitch, and he was coming off a back injury that his doctors said should have ended his season. But, he returned to action and threw just enough innings at the Sub-State Tournament to get LaPizza/Henry JIS to the state tournament. And then pitched all five victories at the State Tournament.
In 1990, Denny was reunited with his old friends, A1 Rausch and Gregg Bosch. All three pitched for Bosch-Rausch Financial Group, and Denny threw some of the best ball of his career that year. Bosch-Rausch finished 3rd in the ASA Regionals that year with Denny throwing a 1-hit shutout against Cedar Rapids rival Fleck's to clinch 3rd place.
Linderbaum ended his career after the 1991 season at the age of 42. That final season was one of both frustration and great success for Linderbaum. Frustration because of physical problems--he had both knee and hand surgery done in the fall of 1990--and great success because Bosch-Rausch Financial won the Iowa ASA Open state Championship over defending champion Des Moines Metros, and went on to finish 9th at the ASA Nationals in Midland, Michigan. The Bosch-Rausch team also won the ISC State Tournament in Walcott that year, and went on to finish 10th at the ISC World Tournament held in Sioux City. This marked the first time in Denny's career that he played for both an ASA State Champ and an ISC State Champion. And the fact that Bosch-Rausch finished in the top 10 in both the ASA National and ISC World Tournaments provided Denny a great ending to his career inmajor fast-pitch softball.
One final note about his final 1991 season: in 1991 Denny played for the first time in the ASA Masters (40 and over) National Tournament in Springfield, MO for a Cedar Rapids team made up of mostly former Collins Radio teammates, and led his team to a 6th place finish. Denny won 4 games at that tourney, including wins over Southern California, a 2- hit shutout over Lincoln, NE, and a 2-1 victory over a Baltimore, KD team that had finished 2nd at the ASA Masters Tourney in 1990.
Linderbaum's final season saw him finish with a 18-6 record and a 1.88 ERA. This gave him a total of 609 wins and 265 losses, a .717 winning percentage, with a career ERA of 1.22 over his 24 year career. During that time he pitched in 17 Iowa ASA State Open Tourneys, winning four state titles. And, of those 17 Iowa State Tournaments, only 4 times did his teams ever finish lower than 6th place. He appeared in 11 ASA Regional Tournaments, 6 ASA National Tournaments, and two ISC World Tournaments.
Denny had a lot of succeS5 over his 24 years in softball as the statistics show. He was well-known for his strong competitive spirit and work ethic. And, one of the greatest compliments ever paid to him came from Cliff Rice, an Iowa Hall of Famer and former teammate, who said that, “While Denny didn"t have as much physical ability as some other top pitchers of his era, he got the most out of his physical abilities because of that work ethic.”
Beyond playing fast-pitch softball, however, Denny was also very active in worKing with young pitchers--both male and female--over the years. Denny, along with Al and Mary Rausch, and Gregg Bosch, formed the All-Iowa Pitching Clinic (AIPC) in 1977, and did numerous clinics at high schools and colleges for many years. The AIPC staff literally worked with thousands of young people during that time, and helped develop some outstanding pitchers who are still competing today.